4 minute read
The Independent – Our secret indie deliberates
On clicks-and-bricks
The Secret Independent is looking forward to reopening again and refreshing his shelves with some key new stock - and hopes there is a hunger for people to go out and shop
So we fi nally have a date to work to, among all this madness. Regardless of all the chat that I hear on a daily basis, I’m glad to have some form of ‘road map’ for getting out of this whole mess. If I never have to do another lockdown in my entire life, it will be one too many.
I love that we have come through what felt like the longest and wettest winter in history, and now is the time we can either decide to moan about the past 12 months or pick ourselves up (no matter how unsteady we are on our feet), dust ourselves down and try to claw back the disastrous start we have all had to 2021.
I mentioned last month about my online sales not being strong. This unfortunately is very true, as I have always avoided putting any serious money into becoming established online. For all my decisions over the years, this has probably been the costliest to me now. But, like many of us indies out there, I always felt that going online would inevitably turn out to be futile, like gambling where the house [casino owners] - or majors in our case - always wins.
To pump money into an online business, with all the overheads required, while the big guys already have well-established and trusted ecommerce platforms, felt like a waste. But now it’s clear that not having a robust online business, regardless of further pandemics or lockdowns, puts you at serious risk because there is simply no business being done on a daily basis to keep things ticking over.
That has left me in a position of “hoping that the sooner we can get open again and refresh our shelves with some key new stock, the better. And then hope there is a hunger for people to go out and shop.
This, of course, I’m very confi dent about. I’m quite wellknown in my area (not trying to blow my own trumpet but I live in a small village) and people defi nitely do have an appetite for getting back out to local shops.
My main fear is that they have already gone and bought that birthday present or some outdoor toys (which many of us stock) because of the fear of not getting what they want - which will only decrease my sales and put me under further pressure as time goes on. I’m speaking from experience here because I wanted to buy a mountain bike from my local store, and they told me it would be July before they would receive stock in my size, of any model. This information forced me to go online to see if I could fi nd availability and, once again, some of the dates quoted were as late as 28 November!
If I were your average consumer and wanted something, I defi nitely would have gone ahead and bought online, just to know that it was done, with another box ticked on my evergrowing to-do list. On top of that, if a child's birthday was coming up any time before the end of May, I would almost certainly have bought the goods weeks ago, as disappointment on a child's face is not something any parent wants to have to deal with. This feels like another negative rant, but it’s something that I’m extremely nervous and concerned about. Once we have been open for three to four weeks, I can certainly see things easing off in terms of sales, so I will wait to see what the fi gures and rate of sale is “ like after the initial burst. On a positive note, it’s springtime. The weather (in general) is much better and those people who worry about getting cold or wet - or both - by going outdoors, can start to enjoy the feel of some sun on their backs and light breezes on their faces when they step over the thresholds of their front doors.
I know several people who have really struggled with this lockdown, and some who have had a really tough time just getting themselves out of bed in the morning. I’m so proud of all of those who have felt the diffi culties of these last few months and can now try to look ahead and be positive. I hope this continues and we can all get back to the normality that we crave. Keep safe everyone.
